I sincerely believe that it is far more beneficial and far less costly to help a child build confidence than it is to fix an adult who has little or none.

When a child is born, their mind is like a blank slate just waiting for a story to be written. Everything they see and hear makes an impression on their small, innocent minds. Parents are their first teachers and can have the biggest impact on a child’s life which can lead to future success or failure. As a child grows, they are also impacted by other family members, friends and teachers. Even the media plays a large part on how a child learns and grows. It is important that we show a positive example to our own children and anyone else we are in contact with.

February is the month when we are reminded to love each other. We see Valentine cards, candy, flowers and all sorts of advertising that penetrate your thoughts with ideas of love. Even if we are angry or upset with our loved ones, we often overlook these things for a short period of time to bring them gifts or give them a much-needed hug.

So why do we need something to remind us that we should be showing love to others? We should be walking in love every day of the year, not just Valentine’s day.

Love is powerful and it has a positive effect on ourselves and others. Love is the glue that can hold families and friendships together. Love allows us to help other people and this creates a feeling of happiness for everyone.

Let’s start our love walk today! Let’s start showing kindness to everyone we meet. Let’s start a kindness ripple in the world. Are you walking in love? Are you putting the needs of others before your own?

Many people in this world don’t feel loved or accepted. They believe lies they have heard throughout their lives as being the truth and cannot see themselves in a proper light.

How many children have been told, “You can’t do this. You’re ugly. You’re bad.” How many wives or husbands have been told, “You don’t do anything right. You’re too fat. You don’t make me happy.” How many students or employees have been told, You’re not smart enough. You’re too slow. You’ll never amount to anything.” There are so many things that could have been said to us that make us feel unloved, unwanted and unworthy. What lies have you been told? Just fill in the blank. You’re…………………….

We have all felt unworthy of someone’s love because of words that have been spoken to us. It might have been a parent, a family member, a friend, a co-worker or even a complete stranger. If we have enough confidence in ourselves and good esteem, we will be able to let these unkind words just roll off our backs. Sadly, many of us don’t have enough confidence to realize that these things are not true and we will live our lives believing we are lacking in something.

It is so important that we show people that we love and accept them, even when they make mistakes. None of us is perfect and we don’t want other people to put us down when we do something wrong. Parents are the first ones who need to show a child how valuable they are so they can grow into confident, loving adults. It isn’t easy being a parent in this stressful world but we need to take time to love our children and spent time with them. Love and encourage your children. Be a positive example to them by caring about the people around you. Pray for them and be there when they need you. Their future depends on what happens in their life today.

We live in a world that is complicated. Daily pressures cause us to try to do way more that we should. We try to pack so many things into 24 hours that we are exhausted at the end of the day. Work, family, daily chores, meetings, sports, other activities….it is all too much for many of us to handle. The stress we feel is handed down to our children when we place our own expectations on their little lives.

Children are not allowed to be children anymore. They are pressured into growing up quickly and filling their time with endless activities. When I was small, life was simple. I spent hours playing by myself and using my creativity to do projects like painting, sewing and knitting. Toys and games did not fill my room and I wasn’t bored. Instead of spending hours playing on a computer or an i-pad, I was outside riding my bicycle or having adventures in my backyard.

I see children today who are involved in so many things that they don’t have time to enjoy their childhood. Their schedules are so full of activities like sports, dancing, martial arts, video games, parties and other events that they don’t have time to use their own creativity. Then when they do have down time, they go to rooms full of toys and games and are bored because they have nothing to do.

Parents often smother their children with too much, thinking it shows love. We all want our children to have nice things but when it is overdone, it can result in emotional problems. Kids feel frustrated, stressed, unsatisfied and feeling entitled to having everything they want. We should give our children less stuff and allow them to have more free time to build their creativity. We should give our children less activities and more family time. More is not better. More is stressful. We need to simplify the lives of ourselves and our children.

Many people struggle with low esteem and it affects every area of their lives. It affects how they feel about themselves, it affects the way they interact with other people, it affects the way they communicate. Low esteem is destructive.

It makes people feel inferior, that they are worthless, that they have no value.

It makes them feel that they don’t measure up to other people; that everyone else is smarter, better looking, has more friends, is better off financially.

It makes people feel unloved, unappreciated and unwanted.

It destroys relationships.

It leads to communication breakdowns.

It holds you back from using your abilities and skills.

It stops you from reaching your goals.

It destroys your dreams.

Having low esteem will cause you to struggle through life believing that there is something wrong with you. Often we develop this low opinion of ourselves from living in a negative environment, surrounded by people who struggle themselves with low esteem. Instead of continuing to believe things that are probably not true, we can change the way we feel about ourselves by challenging our beliefs and learning to develop a positive perspective about ourselves and life in general.

We are all valuable, unique individuals despite what others have led us to believe. Do some self-discovery and find our what an awesome person you really are! Visit my website at http://www.imconfident.com for more information on building confidence and self-esteem.

The truth is we all gossip. Gossip is idle talk about the personal or private affairs of others. It is a natural and expected part of our lives and helps us learn how to relate to others. If we are sharing good news about something positive and exciting, gossip can be a good thing.

However, problems can arise when we start talking about things that are mean, nasty, inaccurate or incomplete. If we discover a person doing something we think is wrong, we may want to share the information, not even knowing if what we saw has a good explanation. We can even add information that isn’t true, just to make the story more interesting and to make the person look really bad. This can start vicious rumours that embarrass or humiliate the person.

Gossiping that is intended to hurt someone is NEVER appropriate. Often we don’t know the whole story behind what we saw and it isn’t our business anyway. The only time we should gossip about something serious is when it is a matter of life and death. We certainly wouldn’t like other people to gossip about us, so we should extend the same courtesy.

Do you gossip? Does it hurt other people? If you are a parent, gossiping is a bad thing to model to your children. You are teaching them how to hurt other people and this will eventually end up hurting them. Be a positive role model. Be careful with your words and try not to gossip. If you catch your child gossiping, talk to them and discuss why it is wrong. Explain how it can hurt people and damage relationships. Help them develop empathy and make sure they apologize to anyone they have hurt.

The way you parent your children mainly depends on what kind of environment you have been raised in. Most parents will use the same methods of parenting used by their parents and grandparents even though they may have hated the way they were raised. Every child wants to please their parents and they will try to model their behaviour. They may even believe that this is the way normal parents behave if they have never encountered a different approach.

There are basically 3 types of parents. The terms vary depending on what information you are reading, but I like to use the terms powerful, permissive and responsible. Each one has a different impact on the child as to what kind of parent/child relationship they have and what type of parent they will become. Think back to your own childhood and determine what kind of parent you were raised by.

POWERFUL parents are those who make their children behave by controlling them with angry words or forceful actions and punishments. They make most decisions for their child and allow them little freedom. They use their size to intimidate their child and may ignore, harass or even physically abuse them. Children of powerful parents behave out of fear rather than love and will eventually grow to resent their parents, often rebelling in some way. They will grow up with insecurities and fears and will likely raise their children using anger and intimidation.

PERMISSIVE parents are those who allow their children to do almost anything they want. There are few or no rules and parenting is inconsistent. They make things as easy as they can for the child, often doing things for them that the child could easily do themselves. This robs the child of self-respect and self-esteem and invites rebellion. Children of permissive parents often are confused and make poor choices because they have no guidelines to follow.

RESPONSIBLE parents are those who convey love and show respect to their children and other people. They provide their children with opportunities to make their own choices and hold them accountable. They use consistent, loving discipline and lead by example. They encourage, support and protect their child and help them develop good self-worth. Children of responsible parents learn how become a responsible adult by watching and modelling the positive characteristics of their parent.

Powerful and Permissive parents have a negative affect on their children. Most of these children will struggle in school, work and in their relationships. They will likely become the same type of parent with their children or in some cases, they can go to the other extreme. Children raised by powerful parents might become permissive parents because they don’t want their children to be controlled and will allow them complete freedom to do what they want, falsely believing this is showing love. Children raised by permissive parents might become powerful parents because they believe that children need rules and may go way overboard in taking control, causing the parent/child relationship to suffer greatly. Neither method works well.

The Responsible parent is the best method of parenting. The parent works with the child to build a loving relationship. Mistakes are made but lessons are learned and the child develops a positive perspective on life.

It is also extremely important that both parents use the same parenting method. There needs to be continuous communication between the parents so they discuss and work out any problems. When parents use different parenting methods or the parents are divided on any matter, parenting WILL fail. Children are a lot smarter than we think they are. They will divide and conquer every time. Make sure you are working together as a team to raise your children in the best way possible. And if you make a mistake? Well, you are human and nobody is perfect. Apologize, start over, do whatever it takes to keep those lines of communication open!

So what kind of parent are you? And what kind of parent do you want your child to be?

We are almost at the beginning of a New Year. Are you ready for a new beginning?

Think back over the past year. What has happened to shape your life? What memories were made? Were they happy or sad, rewarding or disappointing, powerful or pitiful?

We will always remember the really good times and the really bad times because they make a huge impact on us. The problem is, when we focus on the bad times more than the good times, we are going to feel bad and not live our lives to the fullest. We will hold ourselves back from trying something new or enjoying an event because we fear failure and want to protect ourselves from getting hurt.

Try hard to focus on the good things that have happened and treasure them in your heart. See the bad things from a positive perspective and treat them as learning experiences. What can you change in your life and how can you face these problems with confidence the next time they happen? How can you treat people in a different way and not allow them to hurt you?

Each year we have an opportunity for a new beginning. Start thinking about the changes you can make that will improve your relationships and your outlook on life.

Have you ever stopped to consider the power that you have in your tongue? Just one small part of your body speaks volumes about the type of person you are. When you open your mouth to speak, you can reveal a lot about your character. Your words can show love or hatred, calmness or anger, encouragement or criticism, modesty or boastfulness. Your words can tell the truth or they can lie. Your words can help or they can hurt. It all depends on what kind of mindset you have.

If your thoughts are mostly positive, they will produce positive words, positive actions and positive results. However, if your thoughts are mostly negative, they will produce negative words, negative actions and negative results.

What is going on in your mind? Are positive or negative thoughts floating around? If they are negative, it is time to start thinking about what you are thinking. Be aware of your thoughts, stop yourself before anything comes out of your mouth, and try to change anything that is negative into something that is positive. At first it may be hard, but the more you practice, the easier it gets. Just taking a few seconds to breathe and think can stop you from saying hurtful, damaging words or doing something that you might regret.

Our biggest problem is right under our nose. The tongue is so powerful and we need to learn how to control it.

Do you feel that your parents didn’t give you enough love when you were a child? Did they ignore you or treat you badly in any way? Did they criticize everything you did or push you too hard to accomplish things?

Parenting is a difficult job and most parents are ill-prepared for being a parent. They don’t take classes, read books or go to parenting seminars. They aren’t being a bad parent intentionally, they just don’t know how to parent. Most of us just “fly by the seat of our pants” using whatever methods we learned growing up, often making the same mistakes that their parents made, not really thinking about what we are doing.

If we haven’t received enough love as a child, we won’t understand how valuable we are and won’t be able to love ourselves. This creates insecurities and fears that we carry with us through life and causes problems in our relationships. If we don’t have love, we can’t give love and love is the key ingredient to a happy and successful life.

Did you receive love as a child? Are you receiving love now? Are you giving love? If your answers are ‘no’, then you need to start building your esteem. How?

Become aware of who you are. Discover your abilities, skills and personality traits. What do you enjoy doing? What do you do well? You are a unique and special individual.

Accept your imperfections and flaws. Focus on your positive qualities and not on the things you don’t like about yourself. Everyone is flawed and imperfect, even those people that you think has everything all together. Never compare yourself to anyone else, just be the best person you can be.

Maintain a positive self-image. Show other people that you are an awesome person and that you like yourself. Be nice to other people and always be friendly especially with those who seem unhappy or withdrawn. If you show confidence and give love to others, people will feel comfortable with you and you will get love back.

Just because you didn’t get love from other people, doesn’t mean you can’t start loving yourself and giving love to other people. Treat yourself with respect and kindness. You deserve it!